The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for the distribution of audiovisual content to consumers. More specifically, the present invention audiovisual content to consumers, wherein the audiovisual content is related to a given product""s content or advertising regarding the product.
Commercial television and radio have been recognized as a powerful and efficient medium for broadcasting advertising and entertainment content to a large, widely dispersed audience. As a result, television and radio have traditionally garnered a major share of advertising budgets. However, due to a variety of factors, advertising revenues for these media outlets have been dropping over the past several years, a trend which is expected to continue. One major drawback of television and radio advertising is the failure of these media to do more than deliver a large number of impressions to a large and relatively undifferentiated audience. Advertising dollars are ineffectively spent on messages that reach the wrong audiences under the wrong circumstances. Further, national network television is well suited only for the limited number of product categories which are truly national in scope and relatively impervious to regional and seasonal variation. Moreover, the cost of multiple regional campaigns to address such issues on local television or radio stations, for example, will often equal or exceed that of a national program.
Delivery of advertising and product content at the point-of-purchase accomplishes what in-home television cannot, in large part because it is directed not toward passive, unreceptive viewers, but rather toward consumers who are actively seeking information and making choices based on that information. Ample evidence demonstrates consumers in a shopping environment are much more susceptible to audiovisual messages regarding products in which they have a current, specific interest than otherwise.
Indeed, with the vast quantity of available products and services, such as for example music or video selections, a consumer is faced with a formidable task in selecting which products they may wish to purchase. Providers of goods and services are constantly devising strategies for educating consumers about their products. This is especially true for providers of goods and services which are complex and/or numerous. Unfortunately, consumers are often frustrated by a lack of information, which can lead to the purchase of an unintended product or service. In other cases, the consumer may avoid purchasing a product or service altogether due to frustration and confusion arising from the vast quantity of available products.
However, current point-of-purchase advertising programs have severe limitations. For the most part they are based on a static, print-oriented media comprised of signage or packing labels, with product messages lost in the clutter. On-site demonstrations or educational devices are often prohibitively expensive, take up valuable selling space, and are limited to a store-by-store approach.
One known system of electronic point of purchase advertising utilizes silent electronic dot repeating message signs, similar to reader boards found in major airports and brokerage houses, in the high-traffic aisles of supermarkets. Such silent reader boards, with limited two-dimensional displays, do not have the effectiveness of audiovisual presentations in catching and retaining viewer attention.
Another known variation on electronic point-of-purchase advertising utilizes electronic display screens such as liquid crystal displays on individual shopping carts which convey messages to the shopper. Such systems again do not have the effectiveness of audiovisual presentations, and further require a great deal of maintenance down-time due to their susceptibility to damage. Other known systems use satellite-transmitted television to broadcast advertising into supermarkets. Such systems are typically based on commercial network programming, although some permit the selective customization of promotional messages by aisle, store, chain, geographic area or demographic profile.
However, the efficacy of these satellite-based systems, as well as the other techniques described, depends on attracting and holding the customer""s attention. If the information provided to the customer is not useful or pertinent, the customer is not assisted in the purchasing decision. Indeed, the provision of such information is not only pointless, but detrimental, in that there is then additional sensory input with which the customer must contend. And while interactive consumer information systems exist (e.g., kiosks), such systems cannot be quickly updated to reflect changes in inventory, product revisions, changing demographics, or the like. Because inventory, products, and consumer preferences change, a system is needed which not only allows the consumer to preview product information, but also allows the information being previewed to be quickly and easily updated.
The above represent just a few of the shortcomings which have persisted in the field of consumer information systems. A system capable of aggregating and distributing advertising and product content, and allowing a customer to interactively preview selected portions of that content is therefore highly desirable.
The present invention relates to a system for the distribution of content. More specifically, the present invention provides for a digital department system that allows consumers to preview content, product demonstrations, advertising, and other informational, entertainment, and promotional content, automatically and in response to consumer inputs.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a digital department system is provided. The digital department system of the present invention includes a network management center, a network operating center that is coupled to the network management center, a multimedia server, a multicasting transmission medium coupling the network operating center and the multimedia server, a listening post coupled to the multimedia server by the network, and one or more audio/video display capable of displaying video and capable of playing audio, the audio video display coupled to the multimedia server by the network. The audio and video content are stored in digitized files on the multimedia server for distribution throughout the site via the network.